How warped incentives for Comcast's “retention specialists” lead to a vexing cancellation call
Here's why your Comcast rep is yelling at you — Warped employee incentives and an absence of competition make bad customer service inevitable — In 2006, a man named Vincent …
Meet Executive Order 12333: The Reagan rule that lets the NSA spy on Americans
In March I received a call from the White House counsel's office regarding a speech I had prepared for my boss at the State Department. The speech was about the impact that the disclosure …
Amazon's Cloud Is One of the Fastest-Growing Software Businesses in History
Five billion dollars. — That's how much Amazon.com (AMZN) will rake in from its cloud computing business this year, according to a new estimate from Pacific Crest Securities. If true, it's an incre...
Snapchat Files Trademarks To Handle Payments
Snappay? Snapchat may try to monetize by processing peer-to-peer payments, money transfers, or online payments, according to two trademarks it filed earlier this week. Owned by Snapchat and filed on...
Sites like Travelocity pass full plaintext credit card numbers and IP addresses to DHS, which retains them for years
Ars editor learns feds have his old IP addresses, full credit card numbers — FOIA request turns up 9 years of records, including plaintext credit card numbers.
Uber Is Being Audited By Rudy Giuliani's Team About Its Driver Background Check Process
On-demand car service and logistics company Uber has retained former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani to conduct an audit on its driver background check process. — Recently, some of Uber's drivers have stirr...
Nearly 200 managers at Samsung's mobile division voluntarily return $3M in bonuses as firm profits decline
Samsung handset division managers return part of bonuses: source — (Reuters) - Nearly 200 managers at Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's mobile division have voluntarily returned …
Starbucks will let customers place pickup orders via mobile app in one test market this year
Starbucks Has Bigger Plans in Mobile Payments Than Most People Realize — A decade after the idea was first sketched on the proverbial drawing board, Starbucks is poised to finally let its customers ...
Google and Samsung's relationship continues to worsen, this time over wearables
According to a new report out of The Information, the already tense relationship between Samsung and Google has begun to worsen thanks to both of their own lines of wearables.
Inside Look: Imgur Reveals Redesign, Announces Plans for a Convention
Can Imgur remain its positive, plucky self while growing to be one of the Internet's rising social titans? — Imgur's Sarah Schaaf, IRL. (Photo via Imgur) — Imgur is at a tipping point.
Kindle Unlimited: worth it if you buy 12+ books/year and find the limited catalogue appealing
Is Kindle Unlimited worth it? — Some things to think about before you sign up for Amazon's latest service. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) — Amazon.com introduced a new subscription service, ...
With huge rounds for Uber and Lyft, VCs invested $13B in Q2 2014, the most since Q1 2001
Most Venture Funding Since 2001 — The second quarter of this year saw the most U.S. venture funding since the dotcom boom days, according to data from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capita...
With 1M Sold In The Last Quarter, Google's Chromebooks Are A Hit With Schools
During its earnings call this week, Google announced that it — and its partners — sold a million Chromebooks to schools in the last quarter. Overall PC sales worldwide were about 76 million in the la...